Thanks for reporting as @pkiller mentioned this should be fixed if you create the system folder. I have also fixed it on master as well as the error messages so you should get a better error message if the upload fails.
Best way would be to write a plugin that listens for the hook action:user.create. This hook receives the userData and is fired whenever a new user is created.
@julian your explanation eases my concerns. Would be nice to see none at all but at least we know it's not critical to the operation of nodebb for production. Thank you!!